Your Kingdom come, Your will be done...

...in my life as it is in Heaven.

We just finished a three-day training with four Baptist associations here in Kinshasa.  It was the first of two modules of a church planting and evangelism training called Four Fields.  60 people were there for all three days of the training; up to 120 people attended at least two days.  Sometimes it can be frustrating that folks show up late or that they don’t come all three days. But we choose to be gracious toward people who work hard just to make daily ends meet, and since we ourselves have been stalled as long as 2 hours in Kinshasa traffic jams, we also offer a lot of grace to the latecomers who are arriving in taxis and buses.

One of my favorite parts of this training was getting participants to think about how life would look if the Kingdom of Heaven were to come among all the social and professional layers of their society.  Our friend and fellow-trainer Pastor Elnathan asked people their profession and then divided them into groups accordingly.  We had groups of pastors, evangelists, business people, government office workers, technical workers like mechanics and electricians, and finally students.  Each group was asked to consider how life in their profession would look for them and those around them if God’s Kingdom comes and His will is done in their lives as it is in Heaven.  Our learners quickly put themselves to the task and visualized what would happen.

Students (above) said that there would be no more cheating, no more paying for grades – either with money or with sex.

Business people (above) said that there would be no jealousy among peers and colleagues which leads to lying and stealing.

Technicians (above), who have a notorious reputation here for telling people that they need more repaired than is really necessary and who are also known for taking a super long time to do their work, said that these things would change – that they would be honest with people.

Government workers (above) said that corruption would disappear.

And these pastors?  Well, they said a lot of things, but one that stood out was that there would be no more “ministry wives.”  That’s when you divorce your first wife because she’s not “good for your ministry” and find a second one that you consider worthy of your calling.

As with all our interactions around the Word of God, I found myself thinking through my own life and work.  As the Kingdom of God grows in my heart and in my thoughts, as I seek to see His will done in my life as it is in Heaven, what will change?  It’s a good thing to think about and pray through.

Will you join me?